The Posted Workers Enforcement Directive and the ‘Monti II’ Regulation: The temporary posting of workers to a member state other than that to which they are based has brought together a complex set of social, economic and regulatory issues within EU law. This paper examines the conflicts of free movement and social rights and the…

Assesses the turbulent times for PFI under the Coalition government and the wider costs and consequences. A so-called ‘new era’ PF2 makes marginal changes, except for allowing public sector bodies to participate in equity transaction profiteering. It concludes by discussing the rationale underpinning Labour’s silence on PF2.

Details of 15 terminated PPP projects plus 5 other projects with major difficulties (download document).

The average annual return on the sale of equity in UK PPP project companies was 29% between 1998-2012 – twice the 12%-15% rate of return in PPP business cases at financial close of projects. The excess profit could be £2.65bn, all of which benefits private sector companies. This report exposes the real level of profiteering…

A viable alternative to the Councils current outsourcing plan to award large long-term strategic partnership contracts for Development and Regulatory Services and New Support and Customer Services Organisation in late 2012 and early 2013.

Nationally, 25% of 44 contracts have either been terminated, reduced in scope with services and staff returned in-house, or experienced major problems. The briefing gives brief details of the strategic partnership contracts and Barnet Councils poor track record in monitoring smaller outsourced contracts (October 2012).

Critical analysis of the County Council’s plan to outsource ICT and corporate services in a strategic partnership. Provides evidence that the Council is failing in its Best Value statutory duties in the content and process of reviews and the duty to consult. Details how the Council merged Best Value into procurement, a critical analysis of…

A paper written for Studies in Social Services, Li Bing, Vice Professor, Department of Sociology, Beijing Administrative College, China. Social services are at the forefront of the continued neoliberal transformation of public services and the welfare state in the UK. The paper applies the In Place of Austerity framework to examine the changes in social…

This Barnet UNISON Briefing examines the London Borough of Barnet’s plan to allocate just 2.5% client costs in the planned outsourcing of planning, environment health, trading standards, highways planning and cemeteries. The amount allocated would hardly be adequate to fund contract management and monitoring, leaving nothing to fund other client functions. It discusses the effects…

The London Borough of Barnet signed a £100m 25-year PFI street lighting contract with Barnet Lighting Services Limited (Bouygues Construction and Mill Group infrastructure fund) in April 2006. This Briefing details the delays and performance failures by the private contractor, the lack of audit despite the high risks and cost increases borne by the Council,…